Article of footwear and method of making the same



A. S. REED May 25, 1954 ARTICLE OF FOOTWEAR AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME 3 Sheets$heet 1 Filed 001.. 3, 1950 INVENTOR. Qifred 512 /8862;

BY ww'va,

IWn-AM M- May 25, 1954 A. s. REED 2,679,117

ARTICLE OF FOOTWEAR AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 3, 1950 INVENTOR. glj'red fifieed, IM M,NLQb-in'1" A. S. REED May 25, 1954 ARTICLE OF FOOTWEAR AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed 001;. 3, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR. (Zlfredfifled BY Patented May 25, 1954 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE ARTICLE OF FOOTWEAR AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Alfred S. Heed, Ripon'; Wis., assignor to Ripon Knitting Works, Ripon, Wis.,

Wisconsin a corporation of Claims.

This invention relates to footwear and more particularly to a novel slipper-type article of footwear having an elastic upper portionand a sole portion of leather, plastic or the like.

In recent years knitted socks having leather sole portions secured thereto have come into widespread use for lounging and general indoor purposes in place of the conventional leather slipper. A leather soled sock of this type comprises generally a knitted sock including a leg portion and a complete foot portion, a leather sole piece at the underside of the sock, and leather side walls secured to the sole piece and extending a slight distance upwardly from the sole piece and fastened to the sock by suitable stitching.

However, leather soled socks of th foregoing type are relatively expensive to manufacture inasmuch as each article requires a complete knitted sock. Moreover, the sewing steps necessary to attach the leather portions to the sock are difficult to carry out by machine. Obviously, it would be highly desirable to eliminate the necessity of utilizing preformed knitted socksin articles of this character, andin addition, if the sewing operations or the major portion thereof couldbe carried out entirely by machine, substantial savings in both material and labor costs would result. By means of the present invention, as hereinafter described in detail, I am able to realize both of the aforementioned advantages by utilizing readily available continuous lengths of elastic material and plastic material or the like. 7

Accordingly, it is a general object of my invention to provide a novel article of footwear which is simpler and more economical to manufacture. than the leather soledsock type of footwear heretoforeknown- Another object of the invention is to novel slipper-type article of footwear having an elastic upper portion and a sole portion of leather. plastic, or the like.

A further object, of the invention is to provide a novel article of footwear of-the leather soled sock type in which. it is, unnecessary to utilize a complete knitted sock.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a novel article, of footwear having a knitted portion and portions of leather, plastic, or the like in which the sewing or stitching required in assembling the various parts of the article can be carried out substantially completely by machine.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a novel article of footwear of the class described which can be manufactured from knitted provide a material and from leather, plastic, or like materials all of which are readily available in continuous lengths. A still further object of the invention is to provide a novel method for the manufacture of footwear.

Other object and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an article of footwear comprising one specific embodiment of my invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially along the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Figs. 3-5 are fragmentary plan views showing a sequence of several stages during assembly of the article shown in Figs. 1 and 2;

Figs. BIZ and. la are sectional views taken respectively on the line 3a-3a of Fig. 3 and the line Gr-" 2 a of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a rear elevational view of the article just prior to completion of assembly;

Fig"? is a fragmentary side elevational view of the rear portion of the article upon completion of assembly;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a modified form of the invention; and

Figs; 9 and 10 are fragmentary perspective views showing variations of the article illustrated in Fig. 1.

Broadly speaking my improved article of footwear comprises an elastic upper portion formed from an elongated strip of elastic material, preferably tubular unit, having its ends joined to forma continuous loop and having a peripherally wear-resistant material such as plastic or leather or the like. As will be seen hereinafter, the side wall is fastened at its upper edge to the elastic material and is secured along its lower edge to the sole portion and to the elastic material.

Although the sole portion and side wall of the present construction are referred to herein as preferably formed from plastic material, it will be understood that the invention also contemplates the use of other similar and generally equivalent-materials such as leather and various forms of artificial leather. In addition, the upper portion of the article, although preferably comprising knitted material, may be formed from any suitable elastic fabric or the like.

Referring now to the drawings, the specific embodiment of 1 the invention shown in Figs. 1 and 2 merely by way of illustration comprises a knitted extending side wall and a sole portion of 3 upper portion, indicated generally at 2|, which has attached thereto a lower portion of plastic material or the like, as indicated generally at 22, the lower portion including both a sole and a reinforcing side wall hereinafter described.

The knitted upper portion 2| is formed from an elongated strip of knitted material, which is preferably tubular in form, with the ends of the strip 2! being joined together to form a continuous loop. Tubular knitted material of this type is readily manufactured and is relatively inexpensive in contrast with the complete knitted socks heretofore employed in the manufacture of leather soled socks. The tubular construction of the knitted upper portion or loop 2| will be seen most clearly in the cross-sectional view shown in Fig. 2. Thus, the tubular knit 2! extends in flattened condition completely around the article and when in assembled relation provides a pair of closely adjacent inner and outer layers or walls 23 and 2d, respectively.

The lower portion 22 of the article comprises a reinforcing side wall in the form of a continuous strip 2t of plastic tape or the like which extends peripherally around the lower portion of the outer wall 24 of the loop 2. By means described hereinafter in detail, the upper elongated edge of the plastic strip or side wall 26 is secured by stitching, as at 27, to an intermediate portion of the outer wall 212 of the loop 2|. The sole portion of the article comprises an outermost layer 28 of wear-resistant plastic or other like material and an innermost cushion or insole 29 of felt or other like cushioning material. The lower peripheral edges of the tubular knit 2! and the adjacent side wall 26 are turned inwardly and upwardly, as at 3i, and are secured to the upturned peripheral edges of the sole layers 23 and 29 by means of suitable stitching indicated at 32 (Fig. 2). Thus, the lower edge of the side wall 26 is stitched between the edges of both sole layers on one side and both layers of the tubular knit on the other side.

As seen in Fig. 1, the stitching 2! which serves to secure the upper edge of the side wall 2e to the loop 2i also provides an attractive decorative feature, especially where the stitching 21 is in a bright contrasting color compared with the color of the knitted upper portion 2! and the side wall 26. In order to provide further decoration for the article of footwear, the uppermost peripheral edge of the loop 21 is provided with additional stitching, as at 33. The stitching 33 may be applied to the tubular knitted loop 2! in reverse fashion as compared to the stitching 21 so as to provide a contrasting decorative appearance. The opposite sides of the loop 2! are gathered together at their upper edges adjacent the front of the article and are sewed to provide a toe and instep portion and at the same time providing any desired decorative appearance such as the clover leaf design indicated at 34. In addition, a tie 35 of yarn or the like is disposed rearwardly of the clover leaf design 34 and extends through the opposite sides of the loop 2i to provide an opening 36 of adjustable size whereby to permit a certain degree of adjustment by the wearer for variations in foot width and instep height.

As mentioned previously, by means of the present invention I am able to achieve substantial economies in both material and labor costs because of the fact that the tubular knit 2i and the plastic side wall 2E can be readily made in continuous strips of considerable length and the elements 2i and 26 cut from said strips, which elements are capable of being assembled very readily by machine sewing.

Referring now to Figs. 3 to 5, there is shown therein a sequence of operations employed in the assembly of the present article of footwear. In Fig. 3 the strip of side wall tape as is shown superimposed over the tubular knit 2| with the right-hand longitudinal edges of the two strips in alignment. In this superimposed relation the tubular knit 2| and the plastic strip 28 are fed into a suitable machine and the stitching 2'! applied thereto. As will be seen most clearly by reference to Figs. 3 and 3a, the stitching 21 when applied in the manner shown in Fig. 3 extends through the plastic strip 26 and through and around a fold connecting the layers of the tubular knit 2|. Following the stitching operation shown in Fig. 3, the tubular knit 2|, with the strip 25 now sewed thereto, is rolled to one side relative to said strip in a manner to align the lefthand edge of the strip 26 with the resultant edge of the tubular knit 2! (Figs. 4 and 4a), thereby exposing an unstitched longitudinal margin 3'2 at the right-hand side of the tubular knit 21, the stitching 2? being located to the left of the margin 31. The partially assembled parts are then fed into a suitable machine wherein the decorative stitching 33 is applied to the edge of the margin 37 and which stitching 33 extends through both layers of the tubular knit. As previously mentioned, the stitching 33 may be applied in reverse fashion as compared with the stitching 27 whereby to produce a contrasting decorative appearance. After the completion of the steps shown in Figs. 3 and 4, a preformed sole portion 28 and insole 29 are stitched adjacent the aligned left-hand edges of the assembled lengths of tubular knit 2| and plastic side wall 26 by means of the stitching 32.

The sewing or stitching of the preassembled tubular knitted upper portion 2i and tape 26 to the preformed sole portions 23 and 28 is preferably started at the heel end of the sole portions and continues around the periphery of the sole portions back to the heel, the tubular knit 21 and the tape 26 then being out. It will be understood that after applying stitching 32 the entire assembly is then turned inside out or reversed to provide the finished article. Referring to Fig. 6, the ends of the preassembled tubular knit 2| and plastic tape 26 are preferably, before or after turning, out on an angle or bias to form a V- shaped open portion 38. The spaced ends are then pulled together to close the V-shaped opening 38 and are stitched by machine to provide a heel seam 39 (Fig. 2) whereby to form an in- Wardly slanting heel pocket ll] at the rear of the article, as shown clearly in Fig. '7.

When the heel seam 33 has been completed, the forward upper edges of the loop 2i are drawn together and fastened in any suitable manner, such as in the clover leaf pattern 3:?- of Fig. 1, whereby to provide a toe and instep portion, and the tie 3%; is then applied. The latter operations are readily performed by hand. In Figs. 9 and 10 two variations are shown, by way of illustration, in the gathering and tie effects which can be realized by the present invention. In Fig. 9 the upper edges of the tubular knit are gathered at only a single point to form a single loop 4| whereas in Fig. 10 a double loop effect 32 is shown. In the use of the article the tie 35 may be secured in any desired position and thereafter left tied since the elasticity of the knitted upper portion 2: permits insertion of the wearers foot in the opening 36 without manipulation of the tie. It has also been found that the provision of the tie 35 helps to prevent undesirable side rolling of the article on the wearers foot during use thereof. The stitching 33, While being decorative, also serves the function of holding the two layers 23 and 24 together pull caused by the fact that the reinforcing strip 26 is secured at its upper edge only to the outer layer 24.

In Fig. 8 I have illustrated another modification of the novel article of footwear comprising the present invention. In this embodiment, a separate preformed knitted cuff portion G3 is secured by means of tional stitching as at A l, in the foot opening 35 at the upper edge of the loop 2!. In addition, still another gathering effect 45 is shown at the toe of the article and a plurality of additional decorative ties or bows 46 are also provided. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 8, the stitching 33 is formed in the same manner as the stitching 21 so as to produce the identical sawtooth design. If desired, the cuff portion 43 may comprise one or more smaller which are sewed to the loop 2| at the opening 36 to provide the desired cuff effect.

As a result of the foregoing description, it will be seen that my invention affords decided advantages over articles of footwear of this general character heretofore known in the art. Because of the ability to utilize readily available continuous lengths of knitted and plastic materials which can be assembled almost completely by machine operations, my invention eliminates the assembly of numerous individual pieces and permits the realization of substantial economies in material and labor costs while at the same time allowing a high rate of production.

Although the invention has been described with particular reference to certain specific structural embodiments, it will be understood that various modifications and equivalent structures may be resorted to without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An article of footwear of the class decribed comprising an upper portion in the form of a circumferentially continuous loop of material in flattened continuous tubular form in vertical cross section to provide inner and outer layers, a sole portion secured around its periphery to the lower margin of said loop with the loop extending circumferentially around the sole portion, and an outermost reinforcing side wall in the form of an elongated strip extending around the lower portion only of said loop, said side wall being stitched along its upper edge to the outer layer only of said loop to permit the inner layer to conform to the wearers foot and being stitched along its lower edge to said sole portion and to said loop.

2. An article of footwear according to claim 1, wherein thestitching of said side wall along its upper edge to the outer layer of said loop is of the over-edge type.

3. An article of footwear according to claim 1', wherein the front portion of said loop above said side wall at the two sides of the article is drawn together and parts thereof connected to provide a toe and instep fitting portion.

4. An article of footwear of the class described, comprising an upper portion in the form of a circumferentially continuous loop, a sole portion secured around its periphery to the lower margin of said loop with the loop extending circumferin fiatwise relation against any the stitching 33, or by addiloop portions of tubular knit entially around the sole portion, and an outermost reinforcing side wall in the form of an elongated strip extending around the lower portion only of said loop, said side wall being stitched along its upper edge with over-edge stitching to said loop and being stitched along its lower edge to said sole portion and to said loop.'

5. An article of footwear of the class described, comprising an upper portion in the form of a circumferentially continuous loop, a sole portion secured around it periphery to the lower margin of said loop with the loop extending circumferentially around the sole portion, and an outermost reinforcing side wall in the form of an elongated strip extending around the lower portion only of said loop, said side Wall being stitched along its upper edge to said. loop and being stitched along its lower edge to said sole portion and to said loop, the front portion of said loop above said side wall at the two sides of the article being drawn together and parts thereof connected to provide a toe and instep fitting portion.

6. A method of assembling an article of footwear of the class described comprising the steps of superimposing an elongated strip of reinforcing material and a wider strip of tubular knitted material with the edges of said strips in alignment at one side thereof, stitching the strips together adjacent the aligned side edges thereof, rolling the tubular material to one side whereby to align the resulting opposite side edge of the tubular material with the adjacent opposite side edge of the reinforcing material, and stitching said aligned opposite side edges to the periphery of a preformed sole portion.

7. A method of assembling an article of'footwear of the class described comprising the steps of superimposing an elongated strip of reinforcing material and a wider strip of tubular knitted material with the edges of said strips in alignment at one side thereof, stitching the strips together adjacent the aligned side edges thereof, rolling the tubular material to one side whereby to align the resulting opposite side edge of the tubular material with the opposite side edge of the reinforcing material and thereby exposing a new unstitched side edge of said tubular material adjacent said line of stitching, stitching said newly exposed side edge of said tubular material and thereafter stitching said aligned opposite side edges of said strips to the periphery of a preformed sole portion.

8. A method of assembling an article of footwear of the class described comprising the steps of superimposing an elongated strip of reinforcing material and a relatively wider strip of tubular knitted material with the edges of said strips in alignment at one side thereof, stitching the strips together adjacent the aligned side edges thereof, rolling the tubular material to one side whereby to align the resulting opposite side edge of the tubular material with the opposite side edge of the reinforcing material, positioning a preformed sole portion adjacent said aligned opposite side edges of said strips with the ends .Of the strips at the heel of said sole portion and stitching said sole portion to said aligned opposite side edges of said strips, said latter stitching step being started at the heel of said sole portion and continuing around the periphery of said sole portion to said heel, and securing the ends of said strips together to form a heel seam.

9. A method of assembling an article of footwear of the class described comprising the steps of superimposing an elongated strip of reinforcing material and a wider strip of tubular knitted material with the edges of said strips in alignment at one side thereof, stitching the strips together adjacent the aligned edges thereof, rolling the tubular material to one side Whereto to align the resulting opposite side edge of the tubular material with the opposite side edge of the reinforcing material, positioning a preformed sole portion adjacent said aligned opposite side edges of said strips with the ends of the strips at the heel of said sole portion and stitching said sole portion to said aligned opposite side edges of said strips, said latter stitching step being started at the heel of said sole portion and continuing around the periphery of said sole portion to said heel, cutting the adjacent ends of the superimposed strips on an angle to provide a V-shaped opening therebetween, and drawing together the cut ends and seaming the same whereby to form an inwardly sloping heel pocket in the article.

10. The method of making an article of footwear of the class described including the steps of superimposing an elongated strip of reinforcing material and a wider strip of tubular knitted material with the edges of said strips in alignment at one side thereof, stitching the strips together along their aligned side edges, rolling the tubular material toward said one side so that it extends laterally beyond the stitched edge of the reinforcing material, and securing the opposite side edge of the reinforcing material and the resulting opposite side edge of the tubular material to the periphery of a preformed sole portion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 74,962 Wesson Feb. 25, 1868 992,221 Loewenbach May 16, 1911 1,140,193 Shinn May 18, 1915 1,150,702 Pierce Aug. 17, 1915 1,536,839 Gillis May 5, 1925 1,803,554 Knilans May 5, 1931 1,888,172 Joha Nov. 15, 1932 1,910,251 Joha May 23, 1933 1,968,012 Boghosian July 31, 1934 2,022,967 MacDonald 1 Dec. 3, 1935 2,327,415 Forschner Aug. 24, 1943 2,536,723 Carpenter Jan. 2, 1951 2,541,020 Arnold Feb. 13, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 391,101 Great Britain July 16, 1931 380,623 Great Britain Sept. 22, 1932 859,262 France June 3, 1940 

